Reply to AAP Work Session Scheduled for Jan. 14, 3:30 pm

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]The McLean pyramid teachers have all already been trained in the AAP curriculum.

It would make sense to use the McLean pyramid as a model for Local Level IV at every school. Then no AAP Center would be needed at Haycock.

At the work session, several School Board members urged using Haycock as a model for the rest of the County. Therefore, this would be an opportunity to do so.[/quote]

Not a single SB member has ever suggested eliminating centers, despite the success of LLIV.  This is for good reason.  Think about the expansion of AAP from 5% to 17% of the student population.  Were centers designed for 17% of the total student population?  No.  They were designed for kids who are not well suited to the average classroom.  "Differentiated" education within the gen. ed. classroom will, in fact, be harmful to these kids.  But the population I'm talking about isn't 17% of FCPS.

That being said, what FCPS (and others) have learned about gifted education is extremely useful for a much broader set of students.  So FCPS is trying to learn from its experiences, by both expanding AAP and also by "infusing" gifted education into all classrooms.  This has started in the McLean pyramid.  The language being used is "infusion," though... it doesn't mean that gifted education is right for all children, just that certain techniques and curricular changes can be helpful for a broader population.

LLIV provides a great resource for many kids who can benefit from gifted education but who would like to stay with their neighborhood friends.  It's a "win, win."  But that doesn't mean it's right for all kids.  That top 5% (or whatever the right percentage is) may still not be well-served.  First of all, some of that top 5% might live in an area that doesn't have enough "critical mass" to offer a robust LLIV.  But even if those kids happen to live in an area where there are lots of other bright kids, they can end up being ill-served at a LLIV.  They need the challenge of a broader peer group learning at their level, not just spending their elementary and middle school years as a "big fish in a small pond." For these kids, centers still serve the same vital function that they always have.

In McLean, the schools where LLIV was established first showed a huge drop in the numbers heading to centers... but the numbers are not zero.  FCPS is offering centers as a choice because they believe strongly in centers.  If I had to guess, I would think that FCPS [i]hopes[/i] that the expansion of LLIV will make centers like Haycock more viable -- not less -- because the kids who continue to attend the center will probably be that top 5%.  That number is much more manageable.  In the meantime, a larger group of kids (like 17%) will benefit from gifted education, and as the curriculum is "infused" elsewhere, in fact the benefits of gifted education go even further.

Of course, the fact that all of this has happened gradually means that Haycock is dealing with a hugely overcrowded school, in part because they attract the top 17%, not the top 5%.  I don't mean to minimize the pain of parents (esp. Cluster 2 parents who are obviously distraught).  I do think that, long term, FCPS is making the right moves.  But in the short term, this is really really painful.[/quote]

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